pesto time

All of that wonderful basil that has been growing in our garden all summer needs to be used before the nights turn chill and it starts to get a little bitter. Carol (left), one-half of classicpasta.com, and her good friend Judy got together so Judy could learn to make pesto. One of Judy's, and our, favorite dishes is halibut a la Carol, which we will divulge in a subsequent blog. It uses pesto to a beautiful result.

We make pesto with the basic Marcella method, and a slight variation. This is her blender pesto from "The Classic Italian Cook Book" and "Essentials." There have been a few bursts from some with "make-it-authentic" zeal that call for using the actual mortar and pestle (from which pesto gets its name). But the blender is what is now used in almost all of Italy, and it works fine, without all the mortar-pestle effort.

• two cups fresh basil
• one-half cup olive oil
• two tablespoons pine nuts
• four cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• one-half teaspoon salt
• two tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Pecorino Toscana (or Parmesan)
• three tablespoons of butter, softened

Gently tear the leaves of basil into small pieces (about the size of the smallest full leaf). Carol, generally in a hurry, skips this labor and just puts the basil leaves, as is, into the blender. Put the basil, the olive oil, the garlic, the pine nuts and the salt into a blender. Blend at high speed. Using a spatula, halt from time to time, and spatula the ingredients down into the center of the blender, to get a uniform, complete blend.

When well blended, one can go to (1) completion or (2) freezing for use later in the winter.

For completion (to use right away), put the blended pesto in a bowl, add the cheese and work it in with a wooden spoon. Easy to do (although one can just add the cheese to the pesto while in the blender and blend there). When the cheese is evenly distributed, add the softened butter and also mix it in with the wooden spoon.

Marcella suggests, very wisely, that when one is cooking the pasta, reserve a tablespoon of the pasta liquid and add it to the pesto, and stir, just before adding the pesto to the pasta.

Freezing

Ah, pesto in the winter, tasting as fresh (almost) as when it was prepared in the summer. To do this, halt when you have blended well the basic pesto, before adding cheese and butter. Take the pesto and put it into a freezer jar, preferably small, seal well, and freeze. Carol also takes the basic pesto blend and spoons it into an ice cube tray, providing many small cubes of pesto ready to be used at different times. Works beautifully.

Then, when it is pasta time, have the frozen pesto already thawed (takes about five seconds in the microwave)) and then beat in the cheese and butter and serve. This just sparkles with flavor!

There are plenty of wonderful pasta and pesto recipes in www.classicpasta.com.


Next: pesto in its native habitat --Portofino!

Tupper Lake

This isn't exactly the Lake Country of Northern Italy: actually it is the lake country of Northern New York. The publisher, Pietro, is comporting himself on Big Wolf Lake, near Tupper Lake, in the beautiful Adirondacks, on a very recent vacation.


However, even though we were far from a friendly Italian deli, we ate fine. The local Tupper Lake grocery had a wide variety of Buitoni pasta, and also a butcher who made wonderful sausage. Plus it was late in the summer, almost Labor Day, and the tomatoes were ripe and flavorful.

It did not take much to improvise successfully.

For a pound of penne, we took about a quarter cup of olive oil, added about five cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and then about thirty seconds later, an onion, also finely chopped. We let the onion get quite soft, almost starting to carmelize, when we added a half pound of this wonderful sausage, which we has also chopped. We cooked this over medium-high heat. The key is to continually pound the sausage with a wooden spoon as it cooks, to really break it up.

When the sausage was brown we added about four ripe tomatoes, which we had diced. We brought this mixture to a boil and then turned it down to a good simmer, about eight minutes, until the tomatoes had broken down. We added a good dose of salt and some freshly ground pepper, and stirred vigorously.

Meanwhile, of course, we had the penne in boiling water. When the penne were ready, we drained them (saving a cup of the liquid) and added them to the sauce, stirring well. If dry, we added some of the reserved water.

Then we did our special trick: cover the pasta and sauce, turn up the heat and steam vigorously for about a minute. This gets the pasta steaming hot, of course. And serve with plenty of freshly grated parmesan.

Not quite Lake Como cuisine, but not bad!

Ava loves tomato sauce

Ava, obviously, loves Grandpa Pete's tomato sauce. Her favorite is just pure tomato sauce with, probably, farfalle, although she also likes it with penne. Her older sister, Zoe, is a touch more sophisticated, and her favorite (see previous post) is Grandpa Pete's Best Bolognese Sauce ever.

This is the season, of course, for simple, pure, fresh tomato sauce, and this presentation of pasta and sauce did not last long in Ava's dish.

The sauce is so simple to make. We get very lovely vine-ripened tomatoes at the local farmer's Market. Italian Romas are the best option.

For two pounds of tomatoes: wash them, dry, cut off any edges, and then cut them in halves or quarters.


In a saute pan large enough to hold the tomatoes, heat one-third cup of olive oil over medium heat. Finely chop five garlic cloves and add them to the oil. Cook for about fifteen seconds, letting the garlic just start to sizzle, and then add the tomatoes. Stir. Add a teaspoon or two or salt (two) and a teaspoon of sugar.

Cook, uncovered, slowly, over low/medium heat for five minutes. Should have strong simmer.Take a half cup of fresh basil (we are fortunate to have lots of basil in our garden) and tear the leaves into small pieces. Add the basil to the tomatoes and stir. If you would like, add a sprig of fresh rosemary and maybe a tablespoon of fresh oregano.

Cook for another ten minutes, stirring occasionally. The tomatoes should be soft, but still holding their shape.

Let cool, run through a food mill -- medium is good, but if you want really pure, minus all seeds, run it through medium and then fine.

Put back in saute pan, bring to a boil, and turn off. Taste for salt. Put it on your favorite pasta (farfalle is Ava's). Top with plenty of freshly grated parmesan and some basil leaves for decoration. Serve very hot.

comfort food

It has been a while since I got to my blog: face surgery, followed by six weeks of radiation. Taste buds coming back! After several weeks of soups and milkshakes, it was time for pasta: and also for comfort food. My choice: spaghetti carbonara!

I know this is a Roman dish, but I also always remember going to a small trattoria a "calle" or so from the Rialto Bridge in Venice, appropriately named Trattoria Carbonara -- I don't believe it exists any longer -- where I feasting on this satisfying dish was an every-trip-to-Venice routine

Carbonara is part of the great Roman pasta triumvirate of "cacio e pepe" and "alla gricia", all simply prepared, flavor-filled pasta dishes (frequently using a more egg-yolk-heavy pasta). For these great recipes, see: http://www.classicpasta.com/ -- and click on pasta and spaghetti.

Herewith:

• two tablespoons olive oil
• two tablespoons butter
• four ounces guanciale (preferred), pancetta or bacon
• three small cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• one-third cup dry white wine
• one large egg
• three egg yolks
• two tablespoons Pecorino Romano
• six tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
• tablespoon or two chopped parsley
• salt and lots of freshly ground pepper
• one pound spaghetti

Cut the guanciale (pancetta or bacon) into roughly one-quarter inch long thin strips.

Heat the butter and oil in a saute pan over medium heat. This pan should be big enough to eventually hold and mix the spaghetti. Add the garlic and cook until it starts to sizzle. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is lightly browned.

Add the wine and cook for about two minutes more, until the alcohol smell has disappeared. Set aside.

In a large bowl, into which you will eventually put the cooked spaghetti, put in the egg yolks and the whole egg. Stir with a fork until they are well mixed. Add the two cheeses and the parsley, salt and pepper. Stir.

Heat 4-5 quarts of cold water to a raging boil. Add two tablespoons of salt, drop in the pasta, stir regularly, and cook until al dente. (test by tasting!) Set aside a cup of pasta water and drain.

Add the cooked pasta to the bowl with the egg mixture. Toss it gently until well mixed and the strands are thoroughly coated. Quickly reheat the pancetta for a minute or so. Add the pasta and egg mixture to the heated pancetta pan. If too dry, add some of the reserved pasta water to keep moist. Cover and heat under high heat for a minute. Should be steaming.

Serve immediately, adding the chopped parsley, and with some more parmesan on the side.

Note: if halving this recipe, use one egg and one egg yolk.

risotto with fresh green beans

The wonders of a new season -- farmers' markets -- fresh vegetables. It is about this time the first of the new green beans arrive. Here is a risotto that is simply all about fresh green beans!

This recipe serves two regular portions, with a little left over, or four first course servings. For four full course servings half again the recipe.

Ingredients:

• three tbs butter
• one-half pound fresh green beans
• one-half cup finely chopped onion
• one cup arborio rice
• one-half cup dry white wine
• 3-4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• one-third cup freshly grated parmesan
• three tbs fresh basil, chopped
• salt and pepper

Prepare the beans: cut off ends and cut them into one inch pieces. Put them in a saucepan with water boiling, and parboil until barely tender, about four minutes. Drain.

Prepare your stovetop. On a back burned get the stock to a simmer. On the front burner, add the butter to a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for two minutes, until tender. Add the arborio and cook for two minutes more, stirring to get the rice coated throughout. Add the wine. Stir gently, allowing the rice to absorb the wine. After two minutes add one-half cup of stock.

Stir until the liquid is almost totally absorbed. Then continue this action, adding a half-cup of stock, stirring until almost absorbed, and repeating. At the fifteen minute mark, add the green beans to the rice and stir.

Continue this action, adding and stirring, until the rice is tender to the bite -- about twenty minutes. The taste test is always the best test for getting the proper al dente. When done remove from heat.

Stir in the parmesan and chopped basil, and add salt and a little freshly ground pepper to taste.

In a recent issue of Saveur, in their "100" issue, they celebrated the "best" cookbooks. The first "best" listed was Marcella Hazan's first cook book, "The Classic Italian Cook Book", pictured above in its original Harper's Magazine Press edition. Nach Waxman, owner of the Kitchen Arts & Letters bookstore in New York, said "There are dozens of Italian cookbooks on our shelves, but there are none we use as faithfully as Marcella Hazan's 'The Classic Italian Cook Book," published in 1973.

Nach went on to say that Marcella, with this book, gave American cooks their first comprehensive and authentic Italian culinary compendium, and "all these years later it is still our undisputed favorite source for everything from making risotto to understanding Italian techniques for cooking vegetables. Her recipes are lucidly written and reliable; the fresh pasta we make has always been her version."

"The Classic Italian Cook Book" was re-published by Knopf (exactly the same edition) in 1975 in a green and brown jacket. Subsequently, in 1992, Knopf published an updated volume, "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" containing all of 'The Classic Italian Cook Book' and 'More Classic Italian Cooking.' -- all of those great recipes, revised, updated and expanded.

Nach says: "Our only beef with the the updated version is that the publisher omitted the Italian names of most most dishes. Still it contains all the brilliance of Hazan's first book, the gold standard for Italian home cooking."

The updated volume: "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" is very much in print and selling beautifully. If you would like a copy of one of the original editions, go to Nach Waxman's: www.kitchenartsandletters.com, to find a copy.

negroni

It is nearing summer. Time to think of food and drink. Drink? How about the classic: a negroni. It is one of our favorites, as it is many others. But it has also been described as an "acquired" taste. -- an "acquired taste" being something I like but you probably won't -- at least that is the implication.

But we all will like a classic negroni this summer.

History: in the early 1860's in Florence, Gaspare Campari, the creator of the eponymous aperitif, had a bar where he enticed his customers in tasting his bitter concoction -- a mixture of spices, herbs, bark and fruit peels. The Italians noticed that the visiting Americans, especially during the prohibition period, loved the drink, so they labeled it an "Americano".

However, before it became the Americano, in the early 1900's, the Italian count Camillo Negroni, a frequent caller at Campari's bar, wanted a little more zip in the basic drink. He asked the bartender to use gin rather than soda water. Presto: the Negroni.

Very simple:

one and one-half ounces Campari
one and one-half ounces sweet vermouth
one and one-half ounces gin
decorate with an orange wheel or orange twist

Pour the ingredients into an ice-filled shaker. Stir vigorously (no need to shake). Pour into an old-fashioned glass and add the garnish.